Throughout the year, we’ve been following the work of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association – the ICPA – across Australia. In these short episodes, we’ll be catching up with each State Council President to hear how their delegations to Parliament have gone, what motions were carried from their State Conferences, and the wins and challenges they’ve faced along the way.
These conversations are a chance to celebrate the tireless advocacy of rural, regional and remote families who continue to champion equitable access to education – from early childhood right through to tertiary.
Western Australia’s size brings opportunity – and enormous challenge. In this episode of our capsule series Around Australia with the ICPA, Amanda Ferrari is joined by Jane Cunningham, President of ICPA Western Australia, to unpack the realities of accessing education across one of the largest and most sparsely populated states in the country.
Jane shares how distance, travel costs and limited services shape schooling options for WA families – from early childhood through to boarding school, distance education and tertiary pathways. She explains the vital role of WA’s Schools of the Air and the School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE), and how targeted advocacy has led to new programs supporting maths and science in multi-age regional classrooms.
The conversation also explores some of WA’s biggest pressure points: a declining boarding away-from-home allowance, cancelled school bus services, lack of transport support for School of the Air families, inclusion and disability support within residential colleges, teacher shortages driven by housing availability, and the urgent need for whole-of-government solutions across education, transport, housing and health.
It’s a powerful reminder that for families in Western Australia, education access isn’t about choice -it’s about fairness and of course, equity. Above all else.
If you would like to join the ICPA in your state, visit www.icpa.com.au.
If you didn’t catch Amanda’s conversation with Moira Lanzarin, President of ICPA Northern Territory it’s well worth a listen. Moira’s acknowledgment of the vast distances of NT life are mirrored here with Jane from WA. Two enormous parts of Australia that while sparsely populated pack above their weight for Australia’s economic prosperity.